the whole number of Jews in this town is about 600. I one day went with him to visit the largest of the two synagogues which the Jews have in the city, and then to his school. His assistant was sitting on a skeep-skin, spread on the floor, with about thirty boys around him, with their Hebrew books.

"I once read to him the second chapter of Genesis. When we came to the fourth verse he asked, if I knew why the earth was mentioned before heaven here, and heaven before earth in the first verse. I confessed my ignorance. He very seriously assigned the reason:-'God is a lover of peace. If heaven had been always mentioned first, it might have claimed precedence, and a quarrel might have ensued between heaven and earth.' He says the Rabbins teach, that the Hebrew was the only language in the world, until the building of Babel. Then there were seventy, of which the four principal were Hebrew, Chaldee, Greek and Latin.-He says the two parties in Canticles, are God and Israel. The Jews,' he says, 'believe that a Messiah is to come when God pleases; but no man can tell when. He is expected every moment. Though a mere man, he will be a great prophet; yet, as a prophet, by no means superior to Moses.'-He supposes the Jews will return to Judea, that their worship will be restored as in the time of David, that all the world will embrace their religion, and the Messiah be king over them all; or, if there are other kings, he will be Emperor, and all kings be subject to him. When I urged, that the Messiah was to be the son of David, but that now the descendants of David are not known from other Jews, he admitted that even the distinction of tribes, is lost, but said, "The Messiah will be known by the miracles he will perform.'

"In reading Hebrew, I pronounced the word Jehovah. He was evidently affected by it at the mo-. ment, and afterwards assured me, that it made him

hell. He says they believe that, in the place of future punishments, there are seven habitations. The first, and most tolerable, is Gehenna, the second. Sheol, the third Abadyon, &c.

"One day I inquired, 'What do Jews believe and expect, concerning the Messiah?' He replied, "That he will come, though we know not when; some say after 200 years, and that he will be a great prophet, and a great king.' I then stated to him what we believe concerning Jesus, his divinity, his atonement, the apostacy and depravity of man, and the way of salvation; to all which he listened with attention, but made no reply. Another day we read Isaiah liii, in Hebrew and Italian. I asked whose sufferings were there described. He said he did not know. I then explained it as referring to Christ, and told him, after enlarging considerably on the love of the Lord Jesus, that the Jews, according to their own belief, have no Saviour to bear their iniquity, and exhorted him to examine that chapter very carefully. He listened, but made me no answer. One day we read Genesis xlix, 10, and I inquired what the Jews supposed was meant by Shiloh. He replied, "The Messiah.' Then,' said I, 'the Messiah must be already come, for your sceptre departed centuries ago. You have no king, no kingdom, no government.' 'You speak truly,' said he. "The Rabbins, however, say there is a place, where the sceptre still remains in the hands of the Jews.** 'But where is that place?' 'Who knows,' said he, 'but it may be, as some say, in America, beyond Mexico, where there is a river of stones, that run along as water does in other rivers, except on Saturday, when the river stands still.' I assured him that there is neither a river of stones, nor a kingdom of Jews, in America. He then said, 'Some say it is beyond Mecca.' 'But,' said I, 'travellers have been through all that country, and there is no such river, * Basnage, B. 7, ch. 1.

and no such people there.' The Rabbins say there is such a country,' said he, 'but who knows any thing about it?' I answered, 'It is easy to explain the matter: The Messiah came 1800 years ago, and your fathers rejected him, and you persist in their course of unbelief; for though the evidence from your own prophets is clear, and abundant, you refuse to believe.' He replied, "That is true. I have been reading the Testament you gave me, with another Jew, and told him that the transactions which we there read, were a fulfilment of what Isaiah and the other prophets had predicted; whereas we had been waiting 1800 years for this fulfilment, and waiting in vain.' He said, 'I am myself willing to believe, but my relatives and friends are all Jews, and they will oppose me.' I then urged upon him the value of truth, in preference to every thing else, and the necessity of seeking for it diligently, and embracing it boldly, wherever found, and whatever might be the conscquences.

"The population of Alexandria, is estimated, by those with whom I conversed, to be from 10 to 15,000. The great body of the people, are Arabs. It has given me great satisfaction to be able to preach the Gospel, argue from the Scriptures, and circulate the written word of God, in this city, where some of the most eminent primitive Christians lived."

In March following the death of Mr. Parsons, Mr. Fisk proceeded up the Nile to Cairo, having in contemplation a journey through the desert to Judea, or to Damietta and Jaffa. While at Cairo he heard of the arrival of Mr. Temple at Malta, and in view of reasons obviously sufficient, he at length concluded to visit that Island, at which he arrived April 13, 1822.

In a letter to a brother at Shelburne he speaks of his passage to Cairo.

"March 3d. Sabbath.-I am now in a boat on my passage up the Nile from Alexandria to Cairo. The

Sabbath, I trust, passes very differently with you from what it does with me. You can go to the house of God with the multitude that keep holy time. I am with a company of Arabs who know nothing about Christianity or the Sabbath. They make a great deal of noise in managing the boat; still I can enjoy myself in my little cabin, in which I sit on the floor, and spend the day in reading, writing, and meditation. The room is not large enough to admit of sitting in a chair, if I had one. God may be worshipped, however, as acceptably here, as in a church. It would still be a very great comfort, if I had one Christian brother with me. have formerly enjoyed this privilege, but you will learn before this reaches you, how my dear friend has been taken from me. He died as he lived, a Christian. To die as he died, is worth a whole life of self-denial and repentance."

I

He remained at Cairo about two weeks which he speaks of as a great city, containing perhaps two hundred thousand inhabitants.

"I visited the Pyramids, those wonderful monuments of antiquity. The large one is 600 or 700 feet square, and between 400 and 500 feet high. I went to the top of it, and then entered by a narrow passage, and went to three rooms which are in it. There is also a well 180 feet deep in the centre of the pyramid, which we descended by the help of a rope, and at the bottom of which we were at least 150 feet lower than the surface of the earth, and 600 feet lower than the top of the pyramid which was over our head. It is said, that some hundred thousand men were employed twenty years in erecting this stupendous pile which was designed to be the tomb of a king. In one of the rooms there is a sarcophagus, or large stone coffin. There are a multitude of pyramids in Egypt, but this is the largest. They are sometimes built of brick, but generally of stone. They are square at the base and